LaGuardia Airport overhaul expected to be cleared for takeoff

LaGuardia Airport's Central Terminal Building will be getting a much needed makeover.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is expected to move forward with a sweeping overhaul of LaGuardia Airport's Central Terminal despite delays and accusations by the agency’s chairman of ballooning costs. Earlier this week, new estimates pegged the cost of the revamp $1 billion more than a previous projection did.

On Thursday, the agency's board of commissioners is scheduled to cast a key vote to authorize the redevelopment plan and enter into a lease with a private conglomerate, LaGuardia Gateway Partners, that will pay for a portion of the renovation in return for a share of the new terminal's revenue.

In recent days, however, the deal, which has been more than two years in the making, came into question when Port Authority Chairman John Degnan, a New Jersey appointee, saidthe cost of the project would be higher. According to a calculation that Degnan had the agency's staff produce, the terminal project will total $5.3 billion, about 30% higher than an earlier estimate of $4 billion.

The higher figure included hundreds of millions of dollars of previously unacknowledged money that the Port Authority has spent at LaGuardia since 2004.

New York officials at the Port disputed Degnan’s higher estimate.

The authority's outgoing executive director, Patrick Foye, a Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointee, noted in a letter this week that the costs "are not remotely part of Gov. Cuomo’s vision for a new airport.”

Scott Rechler, the vice chairman of the Port Authority’s board of commissioners and a New York appointee, disputed Degnan’s assertions that the project is over budget. He said the higher figure took past costs into account that had nothing to do with the terminal redevelopment plan.

“It’s apples and oranges,” Rechler said. “The costs that Degnan is weaving into this higher projection have nothing to do with the redevelopment we’re planning. The project to build a new Central Terminal costs $4 billion.”

New Jersey officials at the agency have raised other concerns about the project, including a $300 million plan to build a grand entrance to the terminal, a feature that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has championed. The entrance would have retail space and connect the Central Terminal, which is known as Terminal B, to neighboring Terminals C and D, which are operated by Delta Air Lines, the airport's biggest carrier.

The Port Authority's New Jersey contingent has pointed out that Delta has not yet committed to building two new terminals to replace its existing facilities—a multibillion-dollar investment that officials say is necessary to create the interconnected complex that Cuomo has envisioned.

"Without Delta, the grand entrance is an entrance to nowhere," said a New Jersey source.

Meanwhile, Degnan has been struggling to drum up cash for other major transit redevelopment projects—notably the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Up to $11 billion is needed for a new depot on Manhattan's West Side to replace the aging and overcrowded facility on Eighth Avenue.

The shortage of funds for that project has prompted him and New Jersey officials to scrutinize other spending.

Still, a source at the agency concluded there's a "better than 50-50" chance the LaGuardia deal will be approved Thursday. A source representing the agency's New York contingency, which is in favor of the airport overhaul, reiterated: "The plan will pass tomorrow."

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